Formoria – the Serpent Kingdom

The desolate, forbidding land of sand and sun-baked cliffs stretched out as far as the eye could see behind the Formorian standing on the hillcrest, her staff adornments fluttering in the dry wind. Vultures and other carrion-birds floated above in the hot currents, black silhouettes against the azure sky. Throwing her arms wide, the Formorian Priestess stood proudly between the massive sandstone lions which served as sphinx-like guardians to the valley of the inner sanctum, and began her speech to the assembled crowd of young formorians their mentors.

“Look around you. Is this valley not grand? Can there be any doubt that we are meant to rule the world? As Salisehk, Priestress of the seventh circle, it is my honoured task to adapt the land we conquer, eleminating the cold and rain, bringing forth the sun to bake the land. It has taken me several decades to transform the valley of the inner sanctum but it is now a place of peace and solitude, of blowing winds and shimmering obsidian shards, of blinding sun and shellack cactii which reach for the sky. It is a place worthy to receive the tombs of our royal family”. She stopped to pause and kneel at the mention of the royal family and the audience followed suit. It was quiet for such a large gathering but the youngers and lessers were aware of the proper procedure when in the presence of a Priestress and they made no sound. Salisehk stood and continued her speech.

“You were brought here today to show what we can achieve and to prepare you for your own challenges once you reach maturity. You are adepts of the first circle and soon you will cross the threshold and enter the next phase of your being. As you shed your skin, so shall you shed the last vestiges of your former life. The tangible magic will come and you will enter the cult, ready to face any challenge! And there is no challenge greater than that of ridding our land of invaders! For many years we have been clearing our homeland of the soft-skinned Hadab. They proved a worthy challenge, more so than any other foe we have faced in the years and we will miss them when they are finally expunged from our land. It is only a matter of time before the palace cities in the west will fall to our overwhelming forces and we cleanse the land. You must now go with the blade masters of J’Ram-Lei, supporting them as they join our forces in the Djasim dessert. Go! It shall be glorious and our legend keepers will tell the tales of this conquest for our children.

Formoria – the Serpent Kingdom

The Formorians are a large snake-like race, generally considered by the majority of the world to be manical killers and slavers who play with magic and who have no interest in anything beyond what they can take from it. This is not that far from the truth. Their magical abilities are still rough and untested and their belief that they are the only true rulers of the world has lead to some very harsh treatment of the Sun Elves and Dune People who formerly shared their land. During a secret alliance in the past, details of which are still unclear, Shadow Elf Sorcerers came to the Formorian homeland and offered to teach their ways of magic to the Formorians. They set no price for this service; rather they seemed satisfied in the knowledge that with these new talents, the Formorians could inflict suffering on the Humans and Elves, who shared their lands. After the Shadow Elf mentors left, Formorian Priests began to experiment and found that, with practice, some of their new spells could alter weather patterns and strip moisture from the lands. So, armed with these new powers, the fledling Priests pushed back the flora which bordered the deserts and the Estrean Wilderness was born. This new land of sand, rock and heat, was in a word, perfect.

One thing they didn’t expect, though, as the spells wreaked their havoc with the land, was that the magical force would mutate certain things rather than eradicate them. In the central area of the Nabor Thaan Wilderness, in the region formerly known as the Eterra Oasis, a new creature appeared. Transformed by the spells which washed over them, the rats which had flourished in the area not only grow in size but also in intelligence. Realising what must have happened, the Formorians took advantage of this new slave labour which they called Ratkin and added them to their armies or set them to work in the new cities which were springing up in the desert. The Formorians chose to ignore the Dune People’s cities which now lay empty in the sun-baked land, preffering instead to pillage and destroy them instead, using pilfered stone and brick to build glorious new Formorian cities.

While some Ratkin seemed to enjoy their new roles, fitting in well, others proved rebellious and deserted or escaped the Formorian work camps. Tasked with creating more, the Priests found they could not recreate the effects of the earlier spells. They started from a different direction, working with larger animals and their human slaves, and the Mongrelfolk (Beastmen) was born. Again, it was not a complete success as many of the new beings were more intelligent than hoped and fought against their captors. As with the Ratkin, though, some Mongrelfolk enjoyed their new roles and remained with the Formorians.

Formorian magic is wielded by priests of progressive strengths, starting at lower levels with the first circle who are able to control and use minor invocations. As their power and training regime intensifies, they move up to the second circle and so on – until finally joining the most powerful magic users of the seventh circle. It is these priests who experimented with the enviroment changing spells with varying degrees of success. The creation of the Estrean Wilderness could be considered a success; the creation of Ratkin and Mongrelfolk perhaps not.

As ferocious carnivores and serious slavers, the Formorian find it difficult to ally with anyone who is warm-blooded and treat most human races as slaves…or cattle. Each birthing season their brood females will yield hundreds of births to each tribe. The sheer number of successful births provides a justification for their incessant need to spread out over the land – they need the space.

There are three distinct racial castes of Formorian: Greater Formorians, Formorians and Lesser Formorians (the last caste is often also reffered to as Xeal). The three types vary in size, number of arms, heads and even legs or tails. Most Formorians are snake-like, they move using their tail – but some of them also feature legs like a lizard or dragon.
The individual size determines their social standing, with the Greater Formorians ruling and dominating all others. There are strict codes of conduct to be followed by the three distinctly different castes and to break the code is to risk banishment.

Indigenous to the Estrean Wilderness are several snake-like reptiles as well. One of them is the Snapper, a waist-high reptile seemingly composed of theeth, claws and little else. The snappers are used by the Formorians in close combat and are fully capable of inflicting large amounts of damage on the other side before they are stopped. The snapper handler also functions as a breeder, maintaing a large herd at all times, so that losses on the battlefield can be made up rather swiftly. However, without the strict control exerted by a handler, the snappers will run rampant around the battlefield attacking everyone … including other Formorians … so the handler needs to be protected all times.

Although the Estrean Wilderness is ruled by the grand Formorians and their Royal Family, its size and geographic position makes it impossible to control well and the armies of the Formorians are constantly under attack. Furthermore, the once so great Formorian Empire is nowadays divided into several smaller provinces, each ruled by a landlord. This patchwork turns ruling their own land into a challenging task, that requires lots of attention of the royal family. The continent of Voran, where the Formorian empire is located is an open and lawless place with a subculture of bounty hunters and lawkeepers who maintain their own form of justice.

The Formorian Royal Family is an enigma. Not only are the greater Formorians and the family treated as Gods by their subjects, they themselves firmly believe that they are gods. They valley of the inner sanctum in the eastern reaches of the Estrean Wilderness is the repository of many royal tombs. Guarded by ancient reptilian beasts, who kept in place by immensly powerful spells. No other race has ever entered this area. Rumor has it that the royal family also guards a dark secret about the origin on the Formorians and their place in the balance of power of the world.

“The Day of Convergence approached and the Formorian Priestess carved one more notch into the retribution staff. Soon, the stones will sing once again, she thought as she brushed away the ebon whittlings and replaced the staff in the ceremonial holder above the mantel. Soon…”

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